Other bass forums...

[Steve_M]

It gets a bit better and I get back on topic...


...Unfortunately, my colleague tells me he's going to be out of action until September. Because he's only contract staff and therefore subject to 1 weeks notice, his latest email was essentially his resignation. I'm sad about that because he was only just getting stuck into his projects. However, I have a load of extra time in the new organisation because I don't have the same admin workload so I can take up some of the slack.

So back OT:

We've launched a new, more reliable and more secure alternative to Bassworld.co.uk at www.basstalk.co.uk. Initially we were just trialling it out, but the hosts of Bassworld made a complete mess of an update to the site and put it offline essentially. So we found ourselves in a situation where we were 100% reliant on a forum that was still under development.

In the last 3 years I've been moderating the site, we've not recieved a single word of thanks or recognition in respect of the thousands of unpaid hours the other admin and I have put into the site from the owner. The owner of the site didn't want to negotiate a share of the domain name with us in recognition of how we made the site what it is and he broke promises to revamp and upgrade the whole board.

Up until we decided to launch the other forum, he stopped replying to our emails, text messages and 2 weeks ago he finally blocked us on MSN. In the meantime the other admin and I were left having to protect him from heavy criticism over the site's reliability.

Anyways, the rest is history. I don't know if Bassworld will be resurrected but its likely we won't be admin any more if/when it happens.

[Richard Prowse]

I've just joint basstalk.co.uk.
The site's a funny colour. I think I feel safer here.

[Steve_M]

Richard, soon you will be able to choose the colour you like to see on the forum as part of your settings. I'll change the brown skin to a slightly less brown skin and have a jazz themed banner.

[Richard Prowse]

it's not the colour, just that I don't know how to find my way around.

[Ken Smith]

My Son Mike has come up with this. You like?

[Steve_M]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

My Son Mike has come up with this. You like?

I like the use of Kens hand writing! Thats got a nice friendly feel and the wood is a lovely touch if you can get the colour of the forum to tie into it (shouldn't be too hard). Have you planned what kind of feel you want the forums to have? Having an overall concept in mind can sometimes help whittle choices down when it comes to the detail. For example, if you wanted to go for a feel that was warm, with organic tones (emphasising the importance of wood), then you might also choose basses or features that had been photographed in soft light rather than a hard flash.

I think the images of the basses are cut out a little roughly, I've learned there's a real art to doing this properly. You've got to leave the edges slightly fuzzy so that the objects don't look too disassociated from the background. It also helps to pay attention to the lighting sources used on the images - too many sources of light can prevent the banner from looking visually cohesive.

The other thing is that I've found it helps to think about the banner having layers of depth - ie. a foreground, midground and background. Usually I put the lettering in the midground, have some foreground features and then a background texture. Usually it helps for the background texture to have some kind of depth to it on its own.

Using transparency helps to ensure that the elements aren't all competing for attention as well. I generally knock the background textures back to 70% or even 50% opacity.

Was the irregular shape of the banner intentional or was it just part of the sketchy work in progress?

If Mike wants any help on that front I'm happy to assist.

Originally Posted by Richard Prowse

it's not the colour, just that I don't know how to find my way around.

Richard, just get in there and muck about. Pretty much anything you break I can fix apart from deleted posts.

I've had to do just that as admin and there are HUNDREDS of settings behind the scenes that I need to learn. Then there's the stuff they DON'T tell you, like how to import a skin.

[Ken Smith]

No, it is not my hand writing. It's just a font Mike found.

YES, it is a 'work in progress' so it has a ways to go.

I would want the heading more 'left' to start with so the Scroll is not the border. Also 'Yes' again he needs to 'cut' a bit cleaner and that requires a large blow-up and patience as well.

I think it is a nice 'Idea' which is all it is at this time, an Idea.

Background Skin is next after we get the Logo done. We have to remember that he is not working full time for me. He is a 16 year old High School student in 10th grade and currently with a 4.058 g.p.a. doing some A.P. as well as Honors courses not to mention he's on the 'Tennis Team' and plays in the #1 spot singles. I think with his limited time, he has done wonders here so he can take his time putting on a new Face for the Forum..